RTA looks for ways to improve paratransit contractor service

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Cuyahoga County residents who can’t take conventional buses or trains can get paratransit rides instead to the doctor’s, a friend’s, a supermarket, a church, a casino and any other destination in RTA's service area.

“Any time I get a paratransit bus or vehicle that’s RTA driven, it’s fine,” said Mark Zaremba of Parma Heights, who answered a recent Plain Dealer call for readers' comments on the issue. But he panned the contractors’ services.

“The vehicles are horrible,” Zaremba said. “The drivers have attitudes. They don’t know their way around the city. They don’t know how to handle anybody in a wheelchair.”

This vehicle says both RTA and Provide A Ride, a paratransit subcontractor. Grant Segall/The Plain Dealer

This vehicle sits at Provide A Ride's depot in Warrensville Heights, waiting to be dispatched. Grant Segall/The Plain Dealer